Human–Automation Interaction in Self-Organizing Sociotechnical Systems

Abstract

Models of human–automation interaction concerned with “who should do what” or “who should be responsible for what” fail to appreciate how complex cognitive work is carried out in sociotechnical systems. Such systems, which have complex problem spaces with high levels of instability, uncertainty, and unpredictability, are necessarily self-organizing. In these systems, actors’ behaviors and structures are closely interconnected, or correlated, and vary continuously in ways that are fitted, or adapted, to the demands of a constantly evolving work environment. To preserve the capacity of sociotechnical systems for self-organization, and thus their capacity for dealing with the complexity of their work environments, the design of human–automation interaction must be concerned fundamentally with identifying the limits on “who can do what” and providing constrained flexibility in the workplace.